More than a dozen aftershocks rumbled around the epicenter, the largest a 3.0 temblor at 8:56 a.m., according to USGS spokesman Rick Lester.

Hollister police Officer Ted Richter, near the epicenter of the earthquake, said he felt two distinct shakes several minutes apart.

The quake swayed buildings and was felt from King City in the south to Marin County in the north.

"My couch was moving across the room," said Jessica Qualley of San Francisco. "It felt like it moved four inches."

BART trains were briefly halted, which is routine, to check for possible damage to the system. Caltrain and Muni streetcars were slowed to check tracks. No damage was found on any transit system.

In San Benito County, which straddles the San Andreas fault and experiences more perceptible earthquakes than almost any other area in the world, Wednesday's shaker was taken more or less in stride.

Knocked of foundations&lt;

The heaviest damage occurred at the Betabel RV Park at the intersection of U.S. 101 and Betabel Road, just a mile south of the Santa Clara County line, where more than a dozen mobile homes slipped off their foundations.

"Ours moved about two feet," said park manager Marlene Garcia. "Things fell off the shelves and broke in our store. It's a real mess and it's inconvenient, but thank goodness nobody was hurt, and people are helping us put things back," she said.

Caltrans spokeswoman Val Houdyshell said uplifting along the fault line caused some cracks in southbound U.S. 101 at the Betabel Road offramp but that damage was insufficient to warrant shutting any lanes. "The cracks are one-fourth of an inch to an inch wide, and they only go about six feet," she said.

The Rev. Edward FitzHenry, pastor at Mission San Juan Bautista, said the quake caused "some plaster damage alone the cemetery side, which is the fault side. It's only superficial. We also had a few candlesticks knocked over."

At the Fault Line Cafe in San Juan Bautista, owner Eda Franz was amused by what she regarded as overreaction to the quake.

"We're on national news'&lt;

"It was Mother Earth talking - just what I like, maximum quake, minimum damage," she said. "But it's like TV and radio are going crazy. Somebody drops a bowl of sugar and we're on national news! I had some radio guy call me live from Detroit!"

Franz, whose restaurant straddles the fault, said, "I was in bed when things started to shake and I realized I was in bed alone and I wondered how come."

On San Juan's Main Street, Charlie Shockey, owner of La Casa Rosa restaurant, said, "it felt like a whipping motion, a different feeling that I've never experienced" from an earthquake. "It knocked a beautiful antique lamp to bits in my bedroom and another in the living room, but downstairs in the restaurant not a single thing fell."

Roofer Eric Summers of Concord was on the ridge line of La Casa Rosa, putting a new roof on the wood-and-sandstone frame building, which was built in 1868, when the quake hit. He was roped up for safety.

"You can't pay money for an amusement ride like that," he said. "It was something else. It was scary but funny. I was whipping around, so I just laid down and I hugged that baby (roof) and rode it out."

"It was pretty horrible'&lt;

Jennie Elias of the Mission Cafe, just up the street from La Casa Rose, said, "Actually, it was pretty horrible. My building just kinda went back and forth. The lights went out and so did the phones, but they came back quick. Some of my customers were a little shook up."

Next door to the cafe, at the Enchanted Cottage gift store, merchandise was strewn all over the floor.

PG&E spokeswoman Terry Prosper said the only apparent ill effect of the quake on the utility's services was a three-minute power failure that affected 600 customers in San Jose.

South of Hollister, at Pinnacles National Monument, park secretary Jennie Garbini said, "It didn't really shake. There was a loud bang and the power went out. It blinked and then it came back on. It was really different. Usually you get a shaking. This was just a loud noise that rattled the house."

A little farther south, in Parkfield, astride the San Andreas and known as the earthquake capital of the world, rancher-motel owner John Varian said the quake wasn't even felt.

In Parkfield, "not a wiggle'&lt;

"Not a wiggle," he said, "but I got a call from a friend in King City who felt it and assumed it was here."

A Santa Clara County sheriff's dispatcher in San Jose said it felt like a rolling sensation and lasted about eight seconds. Nearby, a San Jose police dispatcher said he didn't feel the shake at all.

She said the damage was minor and restricted to some merchandise. "But it was pretty shaky. It felt like being on a floating mattress," she said.

Closer to home, it was barely felt, if at all. A resident of a condominium on San Francisco's waterfront called it

"barely a nudge" and said he thought his overweight neighbor had fallen off a chair.

Tourists' reactions&lt;

Northridge residents Nancy Davis and Alison Colburn, who were waiting with their families for the cable car at Powell Street, were a bit amused that they had to travel somewhere in order to experience an earthquake. Both had survived the 1994 Northridge quake.

"I was like "oh well, another earthquake,"" said Davis, who felt it while staying at the Travelodge near Fisherman's Wharf. "But this is nothing like what we had."

Jean O'Hara, from Philadelphia, had never until this week visited her sister in California, But her first earthquake did not sour her on The City.

"It was fun," she said. "We were just sitting there and everything was shaking. And I said, "I think we're having an earthquake." '

At the San Francisco Marriott, Flo Leano said a handful of guests called to report feeling the quake. "They were nervous. We just tell them that it's not so bad. But they are from all different places, so you can't really blame them."

She said the hotel is full of therapists attending an American Psychological Association convention.

But for Leano, who has been with the hotel since it opened, even the smallest quake brought back uncomfortable memories of the hotel's first day - Oct. 17, 1989, the day of the Loma Prieta quake.

"It just reminds me of when we opened the hotel. Everyone came out and the paramedics had to come over," she said. But she said Wednesday's quake felt like just a 1-second shake.

At the Sheraton on Fisherman's Wharf, communications manager Nancy Marcellino felt the jolt and rushed to a phone expecting guests to call. "But they really didn't, which surprised me," she said, adding she received just a few calls.

"There was one lady standing by the elevator who said, "I guess that just adds to our San Francisco experience,' " she said.

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